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The stability of derivatized mesoporous silicon in a physiological environment is investigated and potential applications are discussed. It is shown that, while the surface of hydride‐terminated mesoporous silicon corrodes very rapidly upon exposure to simulated body fluid (see Figure), the dodecenyl‐terminated material is virtually untouched even after a much longer period of time.

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The avalanche multiplication and excess noise properties of a range of submicron Si diodes have been investigated. In these thin diodes the excess noise is found to fall below that predicted by conventional local noise theory. Modeling of the multiplication and excess noise using a recurrence method, which includes the dead space for carrier ionization, gives good agreement with experiment. This suggests that the dead space can reduce the excess noise in submicron Si diodes.

That silicon could become an important tissue‐compatible biomaterial is suggested by recent results. First observations are reported here of the significant effects that electrical bias has on the calcification process under simulated a cellular physiological conditions. Cathodic current flow through porous silicon is shown to accelerate the kinetics of calcium phosphate deposition. Reasons why formation is restricted to the cathodically biased region and why calcium phosphate is not formed within the silicon layer are discussed.